Jasper: The House of Ma-Chi Storyline


	Jasper doesn’t know it, but he’s being watched.


		He’s lured inside by the tinkling of water, but this turns out to be a decoy to lead him to Bolsch, who communicates through an old drive-in speaker dangling off the tree. They strike a deal – Jasper demands a flashy zootmobile stashed with junk food in return for the orbstone. Bolsch agrees to everything, but on getting the stone simply disappears without honouring their bargain.



	Deepmind has been secretly watching, and now she acts. She entices Jasper to sample a can of soda and a potato snack.

		But the snack's packaging is wired to a trapdoor, so when Jasper lifts it he crashes down into a dim basement guarded by a large and psychopathic Snapper.


		Meanwhile, the bird has made it to the outskirts of the building.


In the basement Jasper broods. Distractedly he juggles objects he finds lying about as he tries to invent some means of escape. All he comes up with is a Spinner, like a toy helicopter. This won’t get him out, but his skills and ingenuity are quietly observed.

	In a corner the Computoaster stirs to life. It's a quirky mechanical guide that communicates by popping up cards bearing symbols and icons. Through a nutty dialogue of errors it helps Jasper to outwit the Snapper – he glues its teeth together - and so he moves on to explore the rest of the basement.



		By now the bird has climbed painfully down to its ‘nest’ in a cluster of roots, also in the basement, within the remains of peculiar factory where mechanical creatures were grown, fed by a special ‘Ma-Chi-cal’ fluid. This fluid is now just a trickle, and most of that is sucked up by the tree leaving just a tiny puddle next to the bird’s nest. The bird staggers to it, takes a drink, and immediately the covering she lost earlier begins to regrow.

Jasper appears.

He spots what to him looks like water.
The recovered bird sees her rival and enemy.
Jasper tries to reach the ‘water’ and the bird drives him off with a sharp stinger.
Jasper tricks the bird into zapping an old dartboard
where her stinger gets stuck,
and Jasper’s free to take a drink.


		But the “water” is loaded with ma-chi and is programmed to grow mechanical creatures. In Jasper it combines with his need for a desert vehicle, and in a heightened auto-pilot state he rapidly creates a “pedal bi-jet”, like a monocycle with pumpjets for the wheel. It flies, but Jasper can’t steer it. So after a short and hectic flight he crashes into an apparatus in the next room


	The crash releases Deepmind in the form of a vapour, and Thelonius the fish, who becomes the 'spokesfish' for Deepmind. Here Jasper learns the history of the building :-


	It was built as a co-operative effort between Deepmind and Bolsch to harness the ma-chi rising from the ground and create a mini universe, with Deepmind living within the ma-chi, and Bolsch in its physical matter. But Bolsch got power mad and hijacked the venture. This led to a showdown where the building was wrecked, the ma-chi source was plugged with a giant cork, and both parties were reduced to remnants of their former selves. Deepmind has a scheme to fix things – her way. But she needs Jasper’s help . . .